PDVSA Cardon Refinery Back Online After Power Outage

Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s 310,000-
barrel-a-day Cardon refinery is operating at full capacity after
an electrical storm last week, according to a company official.

The plant, part of the world’s largest refining complex
known as Centro Refinacion Paraguana in Falcon state, was
knocked offline on Nov. 29 after rains and an electrical storm
that also affected four units at the adjacent Amuay refinery.

The plant reached full capacity early this afternoon, said
the official, who declined to be named under company policy.

Venezuela, the largest oil producer in South America, has
received torrential rains in the past two weeks that killed at
least 32 people in flooding and mudslides. President Hugo Chavez
decreed a state of emergency in the capital Caracas and seven
states, including Falcon, where Paraguana is located.

PDVSA said there was “sufficient” inventory for its
domestic and international contracts during the outages.

Venezuela’s net oil and refined-product exports fell 3.8
percent in October from a year earlier, according to shipping
records from inspectorate Venezuela SCS, a contractor to
Venezuela’s Energy and Petroleum Ministry.